Education

In the News

March 23, 2015 | This story was cross-posted at The Daily Beast. It was a cold winter night in Washington, D.C., not long after President George W. Bush won a second term, and the mood at the upscale Italian restaurant was downright celebratory. The most prominent guest was Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, but his table also boasted a…

March 19, 2015 | PROGRAMMING NOTE: This is a premium report for our OpenSecrets Platinum members only, so if you are not reading this on a $10,000 AppleWatch that you got as a party favor at your niece’s Sweet 16 yacht-christening and/or dressage quadrille performance, you’re in the wrong place. Now that it’s just us, let’s start with a disclosure: OpenSecrets…

March 18, 2015 | According to the American Gaming Association, over 40 million Americans are filling out brackets in preparation for the March Madness tournament, which kicks off Thursday. Many will play it safe, listen to the analysts, and bet on Kentucky for the championship. But that’s boring, and the NCAA tournament has a penchant for producing upsets. So…

March 13, 2015 | If you pay attention to congressional Twitter feeds — or just have a sweet tooth — you may know that this is the week that lawmakers have been revealing their true partisan preferences: Thin Mints or Samoas? Girl Scouts have been making their rounds through the Capitol, selling cookies to lawmakers who then snap photos…

March 6, 2015 | Silicon Valley has staked its claim in Washington. From Capitol Hill to the White House, tech money is everywhere — and 2016 looks like it will be the industry’s biggest year yet. Tech may not be pushing as much cash into politics as Wall Street, but its influence is on an upward climb. Its lobbying has…

March 3, 2015 | Members of Congress are, on average, far wealthier than the typical American, but an increasing number of them have a now typical American financial obligation: student loan debt. Forty-seven members of Congress had a cumulative total of between $1.8 million and $4.6 million in student loan debt in 2013, according to their personal financial disclosure…

January 22, 2015 | Ever since news broke in 2013 that the IRS had targeted the exemption applications of tea party and some other politically-oriented groups for extra scrutiny, conventional wisdom had it that the agency throws up roadblocks for organizations trying to obtain its seal of approval. But much evidence indicates the IRS backs down without much fuss…

January 20, 2015 | The economy is growing steadily, unemployment is down, the stock market is soaring, gas prices are diving. Good luck getting a rise out of someone by mentioning the deficit at a Washington dinner party, something that would have been unimaginable in the not-so-distant past. There’s plenty of good news for President Obama to dwell on…

January 9, 2015 | The inaugural College Football Playoff series proved to be an exciting departure from the old BCS format with a pair of very different bowl games on New Year’s Day. Oregon decisively routed Florida State in the Rose Bowl (59-20), giving quarterback Jameis Winston and the Seminoles their first loss since November 2012. In the Sugar Bowl,…

January 6, 2015 | Seven years after President George W. Bush signed the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act (HLOGA) into law and then-Sen. Barack Obama, (D-Ill.) declared it to be “the most sweeping ethics reform since Watergate,” a joint analysis by the Sunlight Foundation and the Center for Responsive Politics suggests the effort may have misfired. A key…

December 22, 2014 | Overall spending on lobbying has been on a downward trajectory since 2010 and the number of active lobbyists has seen an even longer-term and more drastic drop. Previous entries in this series have investigated where the people dropping off the lobbyist rolls are working now (the same places!) and whether congressional gridlock has been a…

December 5, 2014 | The 2014 election might have been the most expensive midterm ever, and it might have seen some of the most extravagant spending on wall-to-wall advertising ever — but when Election Day had come and gone, there was a surprising amount of money still sitting on the table. The Service Employees International Union PAC reported yesterday…

December 3, 2014 | What do the bulk of Republican presidential hopefuls share with the two major teachers’ unions in the United States, besides mutual dislike? Turns out there is something: Growing opposition to the Common Core education standards. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) became the latest high-profile Republican to change his stripes and oppose the Common Core on Monday.…

November 3, 2014 | It’s official. Today, spending by “dark money” organizations on congressional elections surpassed that of all previous cycles. At $169.2 million so far, money spent by these groups that don’t disclose their donors handily outpaces 2010’s previous record for a midterm election, where dark money spending topped out at $135 million. It even, albeit barely, tops the $168.6 million spent…

November 1, 2014 | The incumbent advantage in fundraising is undisputed — so when a challenger brings in the larger haul, that often raises red flags for the sitting lawmaker’s re-election prospects. This cycle, only 10 federal races feature an outraised incumbent. Chalk those up to a variety of scenarios: a scandal-ridden candidate; a wealthy self-funding challenger; shifting political…

October 29, 2014 | This Center for Responsive Politics report is part of #Money14, a series of independent reports exposing the role of money in American politics. Join us for an event around the fifth anniversary of Citizens United to hear more about the participating organizations’ innovative research and work together for a more inclusive, transparent, and participatory democracy.…

October 14, 2014 | NEA Advocacy Fund, the super PAC affiliated with the country’s largest union, is showing its spending clout in the North Carolina Senate race with less than a month to go before the midterm elections. The National Education Association boasts three million members working in education from the preschool to the postgraduate level. Its super PAC…

July 29, 2014 | Studies have confirmed several statistics about the group known as millennials, the generation born between 1980 and 2000. They’re on track to be the most educated generation to date, they’re getting married significantly later in life, and they’re in debt. They’re also the most civically engaged generation the United States has ever seen. Millennials are…

July 22, 2014 | As it signaled it would a few months ago, Organizing for Action, the nonprofit spinoff from President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign that focuses on advancing his legislative agenda, brought in fewer big donations and less money overall in the second quarter: close to $3.9 million compared with almost $5.9 million the previous quarter. But while the group…

June 18, 2014 | The ongoing FIFA World Cup is an occasion for fans to congregate in bars and yell at the television — and a time when multinational corporations get to market their brands far and wide through players’ jerseys and billboards on the field. But the official sponsors of the championship are also key players in another arena: K Street. Six companies…

May 30, 2014 | The public comment period ended this week on the Education Department’s proposed new rules to limit federal aid to colleges and universities whose graduates are particularly debt-saddled or have high rates of student loan default. The rules would hit for-profit institutions hardest. But the industry is fighting back — and it has allies. Last week, 36…

May 22, 2014 | Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) doesn’t have much to worry about this year — she easily dispatched a primary challenger earlier this month, and her Democratic opponent has raised just $3,000. So why does OpenSecrets.org consider the race for North Carolina’s Fifth Congressional District a “Hot Race”? As it turns out, Foxx’s campaign fundraising raised a red flag when we…

May 6, 2014 | It’s springtime, and that means thousands of high school students around the country are preparing to take Advanced Placement exams, a product of the College Board. And in March, the College Board announced its plan to introduce a new version of the SAT in 2016. The test will return to its old 1600-point scoring system, have an optional…

March 19, 2014 | OpenSecrets Blog posts about a Republican lawyer and energy lobbyist helped inform investigators looking into a state candidate who promised help for payday lenders in return for their financial support routed through 501(c)(4) dark money groups.

January 15, 2014 | In anticipation of the Supreme Court's ruling in McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, the Center for Responsive Politics and the Sunlight Foundation have teamed up to look at the deep-pocketed donors who could give even more if the justices strike down another limit on the amount of money in U.S. politics.

January 15, 2014 | The betting is that "Blackfish," which raises all kinds of questions about marine theme parks like SeaWorld, will turn up Thursday on the list of Oscar nominees for Best Documentary Feature. Here's how SeaWorld has tried to make its case in Washington since the killing of one of its trainers in 2010.

November 20, 2013 | Priorities USA, the politically active nonprofit that backed President Barack Obama's re-election in 2012, raised $8.4 million in 2012, with most of it coming from just five individual donors. The group spent more than half its budget -- just under $5 million -- on grants to other nonprofits.

November 5, 2013 | From 2008 to 2011, a mysterious dark money group called Wellspring distributed more than $17 million to front-line political groups across the country. An OpenSecrets.org and National Public Radio investigation into the group details who is organizing this group and how far and wide the group's money has been sent.

September 18, 2013 | Freedom Partners' 990 filing reveals the identities of some grantees of other dark money groups. But it also shows that the 501(c)(6) is one of the biggest trade associations in the U.S. -- and a highly unusual one in that it has given almost all of its money to other groups.

September 10, 2013 | OpenSecrets Blog has learned that the Center to Protect Patient Rights, the biggest shadow money group that does nothing but give grants to conservative politically active nonprofits, has received tens of millions of dollars from a similar group, TC4. But that's been hidden from the public: TC4 was sending the money to wholly-owned units of CPPR operating under different names. Other groups, too, have used this subterfuge, the latest trick in the (c)(4)s' grab-bag of nondisclosure tricks.

September 3, 2013 | A new anti-income tax coalition was announced today, uniting four ostensibly independent conservative groups into one formidable group. While the groups have united to form a bloc against the 16th Amendment, which allowed for the creation of the income tax, they have always been close -- in some case, very close.

August 29, 2013 | President Obama might hope that his new education initiative doesn't rile too many in academia: By reputation, college professors and staff members are solid Democrats, and a deeper look at their campaign contributions by the Center for Responsive Politics mostly backs that up -- though certain types of schools tend to skew more left than others.

July 23, 2013 | Tech firms and others listed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the NSA's collection of Internet and phone data as issues they lobbied on in the second quarter of the year. Big tech companies backed off a bit from their explosive lobbying growth, though they hadn't previously mentioned these issues as concerns.

July 18, 2013 | The Internal Revenue Service has granted tax-exempt status to a handful of politically active nonprofits, including several tea party groups and a Florida organization called America is Not Stupid, that ran political ads attacking "Obamacare.'"

July 15, 2013 | Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), who chairs the House Education Committee, didn't get a single campaign contribution from the beginning of April to the end of June from any students, professors, faculty, teachers' groups or nonprofit universities. The for-profit education industry, however, accounted for almost one quarter of his substantial fundraising in 2013's second quarter.

July 1, 2013 | Lawmakers failed to reach a deal to prevent federally subsidized Stafford loan interest rates from doubling today, making students the latest casualty of the impasse gripping Congress and likely benefiting private lenders such as Sallie Mae.

June 5, 2013 | Obama's speech in the Rose Garden this week to announce three judicial nominees pressured lawmakers to put partisanship aside to fill the vacancies in the court. None of the three appear to have particularly controversial pasts, but all are solidly Democratic donors.

June 5, 2013 | Many of the top 10 university recipients of government R&D grants also were top spenders on lobbying compared with other schools -- and also were big contributors to federal candidates, parties and outside groups in the 2012 campaign cycle, OpenSecrets.org data shows.

May 29, 2013 | A feeling of déjà vu permeates the current student loan debate. Just last June, President Barack Obama and Congress agreed on holding the interest rate for unsubsidized Stafford loans at 3.4 percent. However, that agreement expires on July 1.
Our data shows that the education industry has invested heavily in members of the House and Senate who currently are working on bills to address the issue.

May 14, 2013 | A mash-up of data on bill sponsorships, campaign contributions and lobbying shows that in some cases, lawmakers have sponsored bills of interest to just one entity -- which happens to be a top contributor to the lawmaker's campaign fund.

May 10, 2013 | The anti-breast cancer group spent $140,000 on lobbying in the first quarter of 2012. A year later, that had dropped to just $10,000 -- a further indication that it hasn't recovered from the debacle caused by its short-lived decision to pull funding from Planned Parenthood.

May 3, 2013 | The candidates facing off in Tuesday's special election in South Carolina have roughly the same amount of money at their disposal. But the outside spending in the race -- fueled by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and House Majority PAC -- heavily favors Colbert Busch.

April 15, 2013 | Happy Tax Day!
We hope you'll celebrate by reading the first installment of our new report, which shows that it's not all that hard to be a big player in politics while keeping donors under wraps AND gaming the IRS, the agency that's supposed to be the cop on this particular beat.

February 14, 2013 | Americans borrow a lot of money, and so do members of Congress. In 2011, lawmakers owed between $238.9 million and $568.3 million to various creditors, not including their home mortgage obligations. But it's not all student and car loans and carried-over credit card balances. Lawmakers borrow to buy planes and boats, and get involved in complex transactions involving lines of credit and margin loans with exclusive investment funds. And some carry credit card balances of more than $100,000.

February 7, 2013 | When lawmakers debate whether to extend low rates on subsidized student loans later this year, many of them will be feeling firsthand the pain of student loan debt: Five senators and 41 members of the House report that their liabilities include money still owed on loans to finance their own education or that of their children.

February 6, 2013 | Rep. Tammy Duckworth was mentioned in the news more in her first month of office than any other House freshman, according to a University of Minnesota study. She also spent more in her campaign than her colleagues in the class of '12.

February 1, 2013 | We know, we know: 2012 is over, done, in the rear-view mirror. But in the campaign finance world, midnight last night in many ways marked a reckoning for 2012 politicians, super PACs and others involved in the election.

January 31, 2013 | Spending on lobbying was down across the board in 2012, but no interest group tightened the purse strings more than the education industry. In 2011, the industry, which includes both for-profit and nonprofit colleges and universities and trade associations that represent both, reported spending about $106 million on lobbying expenses. In 2012 it spent only $88.6 million -- a decline of more than $17.6 million

January 29, 2013 | Lobbying in Washington declined for the second straight year, to its lowest level since 2007. Wall Street, insurance, lawyers and law firms and other industries all took hits, but none more so than education. Patton Boggs remained the top lobbying firm in terms of billings, but even it saw less revenue than it did in 2011.

January 23, 2013 | The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its subsidiaries were by far the fourth quarter's biggest spenders on lobbying. But don't forget Google -- or the American Dehydrated Onion and Garlic Association.

January 17, 2013 | Shadow money groups take another hit at the state level as a Montana judge rules Western Tradition Partnership used "subterfuge" to avoid disclosing its donors and posting required disclaimers. And former Michele Bachmann presidential campaign staffer Peter Waldron sticks another needle in his voodoo doll with a complaint to the FEC about how Bachmann paid a consultant.

January 15, 2013 | The auto industry may be showing off at the big show in Detroit this week, but many candidates have already seen the industry's best side. Also, the hospital industry fends off important cuts in the fiscal cliff legislation.

December 20, 2012 | Two members of Congress -- a Republican and a Democrat -- are on the NRA's board of directors. Also, members of Congress and GM stock, and Sen. Tom Harkin's relationship with a company pushing the dollar coin.

December 13, 2012 | The Center for Responsive Politics looks at the donor demographics for the presidential race, a poll shows Ashley Judd is the favored Democrat to run for Senate in Kentucky and a lobbying firm picks up a big name.

December 12, 2012 | With the final fundraising numbers filed, Barack Obama's leading contributing industry was lawyers and law firms with $27 million, while Wall Street was Mitt Romney's, giving him $21 million.

December 5, 2012 | The 10 universities headed to BCS bowls this season also have been politically active and have spent a combined $1.5 million lobbying and $2.7 million on campaign contributions. Stanford, by far, has spent the most with almost $300,000 on lobbying and $1.7 million in contributions.

November 21, 2012 | Virginia's Mark Warner decides to stay in the belly of the Senate beast, setting the stage for a VERY costly 2014 re-election bid. And the Terps move to the Big 10, along with Rutgers, but both schools already rank highly in terms of political contributions.

November 15, 2012 | Sen. John McCain says he'll oppose Susan Rice as Secretary of State, though not because she was an Obama bundler in 2008. Also, we know about presidential bundlers (well, not so much about Romney's), but what about those who bundled for incoming lawmakers?

November 13, 2012 | The freshly declared victory of the woman who will be the first openly bisexual member of Congress shows the strength of gay rights and women's groups. Also, the evolution of Paul Ryan as a national figure, as seen through campaign finance data.

November 7, 2012 | Some winning challengers yesterday had a cash advantage to neutralize the incumbent advantage, though a couple of races where challengers won the fundraising battle are still too close to call.

November 6, 2012 | CRP is hosting a Reddit forum today to answer any questions about money in politics this Election Day. Also, a group we revealed last May makes another appearance, and today's D-Day for the GOTV efforts of both presidential candidates.

October 31, 2012 | Earlier this year, the Center for Responsive Politics estimated that the 2012 election would cost $5.8 billion -- an estimate that already made it the most expensive in history -- but with less than a week to go before the election, CRP is revising the estimate upwards. According to CRP's new analysis of Federal Election Commission data, this election will likely cost $6 billion.

October 21, 2012 | Priorities USA, the super PAC backing President Barack Obama, scored another win last month in the head-to-head matchup against its counterpart -- and did it by attracting many more new donors, most of them wealthy individuals.

October 18, 2012 | Don't laugh, binders are big business and helped make Romney the wealthy man he is today, while another wealthy man, Mike Bloomberg dives into the world of super PACs head first, and the Ivy League education of two New York Senate candidates.

October 16, 2012 | Tonight's debate will be closely watched to see whether the president delivers a more energetic performance. But there are other reasons to tune in, including keeping an eye on whether the candidates' responses reflect the positions of their campaign contributors.

October 12, 2012 | Romney may have tried to tack to the center on abortion, but less than 48 hours later he was back to attacking Planned Parenthood -- which has shown its muscle as an outside spending group this cycle.

October 11, 2012 | The Army says it doesn't need any more M-1 Abrams tanks, but it may get them anyway. The company that makes them just happens to be one of the largest contributors to campaigns nationwide.

October 4, 2012 | In a roundabout way, Mitt Romney spoke up for the interests of big banks -- which occupy slot Nos.1 through 8 on the list of his top contributors. Meanwhile, Monsanto's big investment in Washington could help soften the impact of the sort of bad news it has been receiving in recent weeks.

September 28, 2012 | Residents have begun early voting in Iowa, the first swing state to start in-person voting in the presidential election. The Hawkeye State loves those firsts, but it's way down the list when it comes to political contributions.

September 12, 2012 | The Chicago teachers' strike puts a hold on Rahm Emanuel's fundraising for Priorities USA. Will teachers' unions -- among the largest donors to liberal outside spending groups -- shut down their giving?

September 7, 2012 | A few months back there was excitement over a new super PAC founded by bankers to target members of Congress -- it didn't really pan out. But a new organization created yesterday might do better -- it will collect money anonymously from big banks and target Senate races.

August 16, 2012 | Lobbying on the DREAM Act made strange allies on Capitol Hill. A new poll shows Mitt Romney ahead in some key battleground states. And the DCCC hits Rep. Dan Benishek (R-Mich.) on Medicare.

August 6, 2012 | On paper, FreedomWorks for America and the Tea Party Express look like natural allies, supporting small government, spending cuts and so forth. But in Missouri, FreedomWorks, the Express and other influential conservative players find themselves on different sides of tomorrow's contested Senate primary.

August 2, 2012 | To emerge victorious from this event, lobbying firms must prove they can knock out the competition by offering representation on a broad range of issues to an array of industries -- thus packing a heck of a bottom line punch.

July 31, 2012 | The U.S. may have taken gold in women's gymnastics today -- but who medaled in the decathlon in Washington's Influence Olympics? The winners, some of whom had very limited resources, lobbied on the greatest number of issues.

July 27, 2012 | The share of Romney's fundraising take from women hits a new low for 2012, while Obama's is again on the rise, and Wall Street falls out of the top five industry donors to the Republican candidate. And the gap between liberal and conservative super PAC spending is narrowing.

July 16, 2012 | Certain super PACs that spent money in primaries without disclosing where they got the funds have now had to report to the FEC. There are some familiar megadonors among them -- and in one case, a big gift from another super PAC that hasn't said where its money comes from. That just adds another layer of opaqueness to the puzzle.

June 27, 2012 | The NRA hearts the GOP. The Office and Management and Budget says the FCC's new rule on disclosure of political ad buys doesn't violate the Paperwork Reduction Act. And Congress could provide relief on student loan rates this week.

June 22, 2012 | But other than the Hollywood bump, the sources of Obama's campaign cash remained fairly static. The president raised nearly $3 million from retired donors in May, a group which has held the top spot for both Obama and Romney for the entire cycle so far.

June 19, 2012 | Howard Rich was behind a slickly produced, anti-Earth Day video this year that's been watched more than 2 million times on YouTube. That's just one product to emerge from his tightly-knit network of tax-exempt groups that pass money back and forth and are active political players. The original donors, though, aren't known. Which is just the way he likes it.

June 19, 2012 | On Wednesday, the Center for Responsive Politics will host a conference at the National Press Club on the growing role of groups like these -- politically active non-profit organizations -- in elections.

June 18, 2012 | One hundred twenty-seven years ago yesterday, the Statute of Liberty arrived on American shores. In the decades that followed, more than 12 million immigrants passed by, looking to her as a symbol of hope and freedom -- including the freedom to write checks to politicians.

June 11, 2012 | OpenSecrets.org is rolling out two brand new profiles of industries that are also relatively new to the Washington power structure: for-profit education and payday lending.
For-profit colleges ramped up their lobbying efforts in 2010, after the Obama administration indicated it would crack down on abuses by some institutions. And the payday lending industry has been increasingly politically active.

May 31, 2012 | New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed ban on the sale of large sodas and other sugary drinks in the city's food service outlets isn't likely to translate to the federal stage anytime soon, in no small part due to the lobbying power of the American Beverage Association and companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

May 24, 2012 | While you're baking in the sun this weekend to celebrate the first days of summer, don't forget the sunscreen. Also, remember that while you relax, someone in Washington is probably hard at work devising a lobbying strategy on what the label should say. The "Big Sunscreen" lobby, revealed!

May 10, 2012 | Expenditures by super PACs are on the verge of hitting $100 million, further proof that outside spending will far outstrip anything seen in previous election cycles. For a little perspective, consider that one super PAC, Restore Our Future, has already spent more -- $44.5 million -- than all outside groups combined had spent at this point in 2008.

April 27, 2012 | The Center for Responsive Politics has released a list of the top 26 colleges which have produced the most revolving door lobbyists. Check out which schools have the most graduates passing through the revolving doors between the federal government and lobbying firms.

April 26, 2012 | Rep. Virginia Foxx has spoken disparagingly about student loan debt, but it so happens that she has received nearly $50,000 from for-profit colleges. See if you know which member of Congress received the most money from the education industry in 2010.

April 26, 2012 | MTV today announced that a world-class coalition of philanthropic, technology, and political accountability partners including Knight Foundation, Center for Responsive Politics, PolitiFact, RealClearPolitics, foursquare and more are teaming up with the network to launch "Fantasy Election '12."

April 22, 2012 | Labor unions injected themselves into the super PAC story line in March to a greater degree than at any time yet this election cycle, increasing by 50 percent the amount given by organized labor in the previous 14 months.

April 18, 2012 | Representative Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) has been attracting a lot of attention on our site today - presumably for comments she made over the weekend in a radio interview that she has "very little tolerance" for people who graduate from college with huge student loans. Looking for context on Foxx and her comments? OpenSecrets.org has it.

March 13, 2012 | Only the most ardent fan of the University of Colorado at Boulder would pick the 11th-seeded Buffaloes to win the NCAA men's basketball tourney, even though they have one of the nation's best rebounders in Andre Roberson.

February 28, 2012 | An organization begun six years ago by Iraq war veterans received nearly $4 million from environmental groups in 2010, a year during which it spent $3.2 million running ads that targeted congressional candidates and urged passage of a climate bill.

February 7, 2012 | Planned Parenthood fields a tough defense. Anyone who didn't figure that out last week, when a breast cancer charity cut off the group's funding and quickly reversed course, could have looked at its lobbying expenditures for 2011, the year Republicans re-took control of the house and posed a significant threat to its bottom line.

January 27, 2012 | President Barack Obama's re-election campaign is refunding the donations of five registered federal lobbyists who gave to the committee last year, OpenSecrets Blog has learned. Some of these refunds were triggered after OpenSecrets Blog brought the contributions to the campaign's attention. The Obama campaign has pledged to refuse contributions from lobbyists, continuing a policy it set during the 2008 campaign.

December 30, 2011 | The ten universities selected to play in this year's Bowl Championship Series were chosen for their toughness and tenacity. They got the nod because any given Saturday their football teams displayed a willingness to win, and often did so. Perhaps it should come as no surprise, then, that these schools are employing similar tactics in Washington, D.C.

December 19, 2011 | Finding the price of the bounty in the "12 Days of Christmas" carol a little steep? Well, no wonder. Do you have any idea how much the groups representing each of those presents spend lobbying the federal government each year?

December 16, 2011 | Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard law professor and writer, stepped into the campaign finance realm only recently, and only, as he sees it, out of necessity. OpenSecrets Blog spoke with Lessig about his new book, "Republic, Lost," and what it describes as the "one issue in this country" that ties together all the others: campaign finance reform.

December 14, 2011 | It's the steal of the century. For the price of buying a condo in Washington, D.C., you can support the political campaigns of members of Congress who support your trillion-dollar program. Talk about return on investment!

December 7, 2011 | The White House press shop will soon have a new addition: Jennifer Palmieri, who will be the deputy communications director. Despite her status as a former lobbyist, Palmieri is likely to find a welcome home working for a president who once vowed that lobbyists would not "find a job in my White House."

November 10, 2011 | Southeastern Michigan was the setting for the latest GOP presidential debate Wednesday night. The state's significance as the symbolic center of the American auto industry and as an epicenter of a sluggish economic recovery were lost on no one, as the candidates debated bailouts to American car manufacturers and the economy at length.

November 2, 2011 | During the third quarter of 2011, more than 400 companies, unions, trade associations and other groups reported lobbying the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, popularly known as the debt supercommittee, according to a new analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics of reports filed last month with the U.S. Senate.

October 31, 2011 | Every time you take a bite of the sugary goodness known as candy corn, are you helping elect Republicans to Congress? If you are eating candy manufactured by Jelly Belly -- one the the nation's leading producers of candy corn -- the answer might be yes.

October 19, 2011 | As the deadline for budget reforms by the supecommittee nears, the voices of possibly threatened sectors continue to grow louder. Various higher education groups have concentrated lobbying efforts toward the committee to keep the cuts off of students and universities, who rely on loans, grants and tax deductions for funding.

October 6, 2011 | Bank of America's decision to charge its debit card users $5 per month has drawn the ire first of customers, and now, politicians, including President Barack Obama, who collected about $395,000 from Bank of America employees during his 2008 presidential run -- although this year BofA employees have favored Republican Mitt Romney with their campaign cash.

September 23, 2011 | During a web seminar sponsored by the Business Ethics Network last week, campaign finance reform advocates were in agreement in offering a forecast of big money in the 2012 election cycle -- and called on supporters to brace for a long fight.

August 30, 2011 | Decades after former NAACP counsel Thurgood Marshall joined the U.S. Supreme Court, the NAACP is still fighting to eliminate racial prejudices and to secure political, educational, social, and economic equality of all citizens. And part of that fight involves lobbying in the nation's halls of power.

August 29, 2011 | A one-time opponent of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), who resigned earlier this year amid a sexting scandal, is getting another chance at winning New York's 9th Congressional District.

August 17, 2011 | As the supercommittee meets to come up with a way to cut $1.5 trillion from the national debt, the decisions about which programs will be axed will be made by lawmakers, who, by and large, are far wealthier than the average American.

August 17, 2011 | Many special interest groups have invested heavily in supercommittee members on both sides of the aisle, including the securities and investment firms, the real estate industry and health professionals, according to new research by the Center for Responsive Politics.

August 10, 2011 | One-fifth of the 377 joint fund-raising committees active during the 2010 election cycle received at least half of their donations from one sector. Less than one percent of candidate committees, on the other hand, typically received 50 percent or more of their donations from one sector during the same time period.

July 22, 2011 | One-third of the money President Barack Obama's elite fund-raising corps has raised on behalf of his re-election has come from the financial sector, according to a new Center for Responsive Politics analysis. Individuals who work in the finance, insurance and real estate sector are responsible for raising at least $11.3 million for Obama's campaign and the Democratic National Committee, according to the Center's research.

July 20, 2011 | Given the on-going debt-ceiling battle and fights over what deserves government funding, tackling the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind seems like less and less of a reality. However, that's not stopping lobbyists from pushing for what they believe in when it comes to childhood education.

July 18, 2011 | Fifty-six of President Barack Obama's bundlers were from California. And they collectively raised at least $8.9 million, more than bundlers in any other state. Thirty-five New Yorkers, meanwhile, raised a minimum of $4.9 million. And 24 residents of the battle ground state of Florida bundled a minimum of $3.55 million.

July 14, 2011 | Political science professor James A. Thurber, the founder and director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University, talks with OpenSecrets Blog about President Barack Obama's time in the White House, Obama's fund-raising machine, federal lobbying regulations and the proliferation of outside spending.

July 13, 2011 | When it comes to the government lobbying efforts of most religious institutions, their activities are notably shrouded in darkness, even as representatives of numerous faiths routinely pressure federal lawmakers on issues ranging from health care to international relations, poverty to abortion rights.

June 22, 2011 | Veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are fighting a bloodless battle in Washington. But like the wars oversees, the conflict in the nation's capital is also being driven by a large force and sizable amounts of money.

May 5, 2011 | An analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics reveals that the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court ruling of January 2010 has profoundly affected the nation's political landscape.

April 29, 2011 | A Center for Responsive Politics analysis shows that several groups that stated they would not accept corporate or union donations in 2008 did not adhere to such declarations during the 2010 election cycle.

April 19, 2011 | Last week marked the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War, when the bombardment of Fort Sumter ignited four years of bloody conflict. And even though the last combatant died decades ago, plenty of organizations are still spending money on the Civil War -- much of it concerning education and preservation, although some blue-and-gray greenbacks are spent lobbying the federal government, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis indicates.

April 5, 2011 | "In politics money = access," a donation solicitation from the Physician Hospitals of America obtained by OpenSecrets Blog states as one of five reasons to financially support the organization's political action committee. "We need access to our politicians to educate them about who we are, what we provide, why we exist and how we benefit patients, physicians, communities and the healthcare industry."

April 4, 2011 | During the 2008 election, Barack Obama set fund-raising records and mobilized millions of individual donors. Obama was particularly successful in turning small-dollar donors into repeat givers, often via the Internet. His re-election campaign will be trying to emulate that success this go around.

March 22, 2011 | Federal political committees materialize every week, although the ones that typically attract notice are those backed by high-profile politicos or special interest groups. So, in the absence of national attention, why form a national-level political committee in the first place?

March 10, 2011 | One out of every four groups that lobbied on any issue at the federal level during 2009 or 2010 targeted their efforts on health care reform, financial regulatory reform, the stimulus and cap-and-trade climate proposals, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics.

March 4, 2011 | Welcome to the latest installment of OpenSecrets.org Mailbag, where we answer your burning questions about the role of money in politics, political influence and the work we do here at OpenSecrets.org.

February 23, 2011 | During the 2010 election cycle, 20 political action committees registered with the Federal Election Commission with the "Tea Party" moniker attached to their respective names, yet only a handful of these groups raised serious money, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of federal data.

February 17, 2011 | For Google and Facebook, the president serving as their pitchman is indicative of their meteoric rise both outside and within Washington, D.C. And it marks how the political landscape has rapidly shifted for computer and Internet companies, with Washington nonentities of just a few years ago now ranking among the most prominent players in the capital.

December 22, 2010 | All told, $185,908 can buy you twelve days of access to everything from drummers to pear trees. And while giving your true love every item in the "12 Days of Christmas" song may cost a pretty penny, keep them on retainer every day of the year costs even more. The cost of the 12 firms and organizations advocating for these gifts so far this year has been $12.4 million, by the Center's calculations.

December 6, 2010 | Michelle Rhee, the former District of Columbia Public Schools chancellor and education reformer to the stars, was a registered federal lobbyist for an organization called Fighting Apartheid Confrontation Transformation Systems. At least, that's according to federal lobbying disclosure documents that are almost certainly incorrect.

December 3, 2010 | From January through September, 29 unique groups have lobbied on the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on openly gay service members, according to a Center for Responsive Politics review of federal lobbying reports explicitly mentioning the measure.

November 30, 2010 | The years leading up to the 2010 midterm election have been an important stretch for gay rights advocates, but you wouldn't necessarily know it by gauging the amount of money invested this cycle by gay and lesbian rights groups and their donors.

November 18, 2010 | Despite expending massive sums of money, some of the industries most active in lobbying the 111th Congress slowed their spending during this year's third quarter in the face of the midterm elections and a changing political tide, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of federal data.

November 2, 2010 | Of the nearly $300 million spent by outside groups so far in attempts to influence the election, the public remains completely in the dark about who's behind 42 percent of these expenditures.

November 2, 2010 | In the final week before Election Day, several high profile labor unions spent hundreds of thousands -- or even upward of a million dollars -- in last-minute outside spending on congressional elections across the country, adding to unions' varied political activity this election cycle, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of federal filings.

October 30, 2010 | Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), a moderate Democrat, and Republican Ken Buck, his Tea Party-fueled challenger, don't have much in common when it comes to public policy. But they share the common distinction of having more attacks ads run against them than they themselves have spent campaigning, the Center for Responsive Politics finds.

October 27, 2010 | The Illinois-based company that manufactured the dispersants used by BP after the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico spent exponentially more on federal lobbying in the disaster's wake than it has historically.

October 20, 2010 | In the run up to the 2010 midterm elections, Soros joins a handful of young, emerging political heavyweights, many of whom are related to other prolific political donors. And they're helping tip the scales toward Democrats in the competition for students' campaign cash, the Center's analysis indicates.

October 14, 2010 | Only three-tenths of a percent of voting-age Americans donate money to campaigns, and historically, men donate much larger sums than women. But a Center for Responsive Politics analysis shows at least 20 cities are bucking the trend. And some in unconventional ways.

October 7, 2010 | Rep. John Boehner (R-Oh.) has reportedly been working behind the scenes with male Republicans, urging them to avoid appearances of impropriety by cutting down on after-hours partying -- and particularly any partying that involves female lobbyists. And it seems to be working: According to The Hill, female lobbyists are complaining that Boehner's warning has cut off their access to many male Republicans in the House.

October 5, 2010 | Maybe these unlucky candidates face a well-funded incumbent, or run in a district that doesn't align with them ideologically. Or perhaps they are just too quirky for the ballot box. Whatever the reason, these candidates face a harsh political Darwinism -- they have been judged unelectable by their affiliated party, and are effectively left to fend for themselves, come November.

October 1, 2010 | This spring and summer, hundreds of millions of gallons of oil seeped into the Gulf of Mexico. Simultaneously, debate raged in Congress about ocean drilling, energy independence, cap and trade legislation and a shift away from fossil-fuel energy sources. Nevertheless, congressional candidates and federal political committees nationwide have raked in more than $17 million from the oil and gas industry so far during the 2010 election cycle -- a number on pace to easily exceed that of the most recent midterm election four years ago.

September 22, 2010 | Geriatric medicine. Woodworking. Business. Psychology. Educators may have varied academic interests. But some of the most politically active of them share one thing in common: the habit of donating huge sums of money to federal candidates, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of federal campaign records indicates.

September 16, 2010 | The first lady's chief of staff. A top government official in charge of fair housing. A senior staffer at the Education Department. These three people share a common distinction: Not only did they each work as registered lobbyists prior to joining the Obama administration last year, but they were never officially deregistered as lobbyists before taking on their new jobs, a Center for Responsive Politics review of lobbying disclosure reports filed with the House and Senate indicates.

August 20, 2010 | "If the Campaign Legal Center had infinite resources, we might file complaints in this area out of principal -- to force the Federal Election Commission to either acknowledge that these groups are breaking the law or to claim to the public that the Commission doesn't view the ads as candidate ads," Paul Ryan, an attorney with the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center told OpenSecrets Blog.

August 10, 2010 | Several of the players on President Barack Obama's basketball party dream team made sizable contributions to his presidential campaign and/or related Democratic political committees, the Center for Responsive Politics finds.

July 6, 2010 | Not only does OpenSecrets.org keep track of the individual companies and organizations lobbying the federal government, but we also keep track of the lobbying numbers of entire industries. Some of the top industries lobbying congress include oil and gas, electric utilities, and the education industries.

July 2, 2010 | Take a little national health care reform, mix it with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and add a jobs bill. It's proving to be a recipe for state and local governments -- some of which are running massive budget deficits -- to spend near-record levels of money hiring professional lobbyists in a bid for federal aid.

June 29, 2010 | Although the clothing industry is pretty evenly divided overall, individual companies in the clothing manufacturing business tend to be notably partisan in their federal political donations, more so than almost any other industry.

June 23, 2010 | Hearings to set to begin Thursday in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, led by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), will shine more light on the ongoing squabble with the Department of Education over issues like incentive pay to recruiters and gainful employment measures. But Congress is just catching up to industry lobbyists on many of the issues.

June 16, 2010 | Days after Democrat Michael Bennet was sworn into the U.S. Senate, the freshly minted senator sold off at least $2 million worth of investments, according to a Center for Responsive Politics review of newly released personal financial disclose reports.

June 11, 2010 | The university continues to lobby the federal government as it tightens its belt. UNC spent $100,000 on its federal lobbying efforts in the first quarter of 2010, putting it on pace to nearly match its lobbying expenditures in 2008, when the school spent $450,000 on lobbying, the most in its history.

June 4, 2010 | Education website Shmoop.com has bestowed on OpenSecrets.org a "Best of the Web" award for our "quality, reliable" information about the money in U.S. politics. In a statement about the award, the team at Shmoop.com praised the Center: "Congratulations, and thanks for providing such a great resource for teachers and students."

March 22, 2010 | President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats achieved a major legislative victory last night as members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted to adopt the version of health insurance reform legislation passed in December by the U.S. Senate. Supporters of both measures received out-sized support from labor unions, the Center for
Responsive Politics found, based on an examination of contributions to lawmakers'
campaign committees and leadership PACs going back to 1989.

March 19, 2010 | Time has rarely been an ally of President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats seeking to enact comprehensive health insurance reform. And the longer they took, the larger the army of special interest lobbyists grew. By the end of the fourth quarter when both the House and the Senate adopted versions of the bill, the number of clients had increased by nearly 300 percent, the Center for Responsive Politics found.

March 19, 2010 | Two recent articles in Politico highlight the precarious position in which Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) now finds himself as a result of his opposition to health care reform legislation that's primed for a vote Sunday.

March 17, 2010 | The colleges and universities competing in the 2010 NCAA men's basketball tournament aren't simply hardwood powerhouses. Most are also significant players in the Washington, D.C., lobbying arena, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis of federal disclosure data.

March 17, 2010 | WIFE OF SUPREME COURT JUSTICE AIMS TO GAIN FROM CITIZENS UNITED: The Supreme Court shook up the world of money-in-politics when it opened the doors to increased corporate spending in the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

March 4, 2010 | The Republican National Committee is planning to raise money during 2010 midterm elections by capitalizing on 'fear' of President Barack Obama and a promise to 'save the country from trending toward socialism.'

March 2, 2010 | As Democrats try not to let political turbulence slim their ranks and Republicans focus on winning back the majority, money continues to pour into campaign coffers. Big-money congressional races are often in competitive states or districts that could wind up flipping for Republican or Democratic, a Center for Responsive Politics review of campaign finance reports through the end of 2009 shows.

February 12, 2010 | The economy stunk. Corporations slashed jobs. And some firms, once juggernauts of American industry, simply ceased to exist. But for federal lobbyists, 2009 proved to be a year of riches unlike any other, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis indicates.

November 23, 2009 | Thousands of U.S. companies and special interest groups attempt to influence government through campaign donations in ways never before documented, a joint project by two of the nation's premier government watchdog groups now reveals. The project, conducted by the National Institute on Money in State Politics and the Center for Responsive Politics, also provides an unprecedented resource: Profiles of these organizations' political giving patterns during the 2008 election at both the state and national level.

November 17, 2009 | Viewed as a champion of regulatory reform, Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) is an advocate of new regulations regarding financial markets, products and institutions -- including new regulation regarding credit derivatives, "dark pool" markets and hedge funds. Within the Banking Committee, he is chairman of the securities, insurance and investment subcommittee.

November 3, 2009 | HAPPY ELECTION DAY: Voters today in Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Maine and elsewhere are heading to the polls to cast their votes in races -- some high-profile, some less so. How will the high-profile contests in Virginia, New Jersey, New York and Maine turn out? Leave your predictions in the comments!

October 15, 2009 | Republican members of the House last week attempted to oust Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) from his powerful chairmanship of the House Ways & Means Committee for the duration of a House Ethics Committee investigation into alleged ethical misconduct surrounding his real estate investments and dubious personal financial disclosure reports. And although the effort failed and Rangel can sit tight for now, signs that he's sustained political damage are emerging.

October 8, 2009 | If President Barack Obama is looking for tips on how to divide up the teams in tonight's White House basketball game, we've got a suggestion. Forget who can make the most slam dunks or free-throws. How about the most successful fundraisers in the first half of the year versus the, er, least successful? If the president takes that route, this is what tonight's lineup would look like.

October 1, 2009 | A new collaborative investigation between the Sunlight Foundation and Center for Responsive Politics shows that since January 2007, more than 500 individual lobbyists donated roughly $2.8 million to 61 members of Congress who took money from at least 10 lobbyists and also received money from their clients' PACs or employees. Among the recipients were 11 senators who sit on the Senate Finance Committee.

September 23, 2009 | Although Sallie Mae didn't get the result it wanted out of the House last week, the lawmakers who sided with Sallie Mae by voting against a bill to create a direct federal loan program have collected more money, on average, from the company than those who supported the bill.

September 16, 2009 | Linda McMahon, the CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, announced today she's seeking the Republican Party's nomination to upset incumbent Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.). But McMahon's history is hardly that of a hardcore Republican. She and her husband have contributed nearly $90,000 to federal candidates and committees since 1989, with 51 percent going to Democrats.

September 15, 2009 | In a speech to the AFL-CIO in Pittsburgh today, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), told union members that he and a group of senators are successfully compromising with labor leaders on the industry's legislative priority, the Employee Free Choice Act. Democrats have overwhelmingly received more financial support from unions, though Specter did not mention whether the legislation's key provision would be part of the deal.

September 10, 2009 | Leadership of two committees in the U.S. Senate has gotten a shake-up with the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) will take the reigns of the HELP Committee, which Kennedy had chaired. Then, Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) will be the new head of the Agriculture Committee.

August 19, 2009 | Political action committees and individuals associated with health industries, each of which are intimately involved in the nation's ongoing health care reform debate, are donating more to federal candidates during the second quarter of 2009 than the first quarter, according to a Center for Responsive Politics analysis.

August 19, 2009 | CAMERA ROLLING: As we've been gearing up for the Sept. 9 Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, we've come across some interesting (and sometimes quirky) YouTube footage that helps explain at least part of the story.

August 14, 2009 | Federal lawmakers collected about half a million dollars more from the health sector between April and June of this year than they did in the first quarter of the year -- a total of $15.3 million for 2009. This slight boost is likely the result of the increased intensity of the health care reform debate.

July 30, 2009 | When mega-lobbying firm PMA Group shut its doors earlier this year under FBI scrutiny, its clients certainly weren't thrilled. Ten other lobbying firms, however, have reaped the benefit, earning at least $560,000 in the first six months of the year from PMA's former exclusive clients.

July 24, 2009 | President Barack Obama told the nation during a Wednesday night press conference that a Harvard professor at the center of a police racial profiling controversy is a longtime friend. In fact, Henry Louis Gates Jr. is more, a Center for Responsive Politics analysis indicates: The professor was a notable donor to Obama's 2008 White House bid.

July 23, 2009 | With deficit worries gripping Washington, lawmakers including House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.) and Rep. Thomas Petri (R-Wis.) have proposed cutting taxpayer subsidies to private institutions that issue student loans. But groups such as Sallie Mae are spending big money in opposition to such proposals.

July 22, 2009 | Although abortion-rights opponents have given Republicans 95 percent of their $6.9 million in campaign contributions since 1989, several Democrats are among those pushing for an abortion funding ban in the health care bill. Many of the Democrats involved have collected money from pro-life groups but not pro-choice organizations, the CRP has found.

July 21, 2009 | House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and first-term Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) seem like natural allies. Both represent staunchly liberal congressional districts and support creating a public health insurance option. Both are multimillionaires and rank among the wealthiest current members of Congress. Yet the two Democrats disagree over how to fund the health care reform legislation coursing through Congress.

July 17, 2009 | Jackie Clegg Dodd, the wife of Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), sits on the board of four health organizations from which she collected at least $4,000 in director's fees in 2008, according to Dodd's recently released personal financial disclosure reports.

July 15, 2009 | Members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, who opposed a version of health care reform that the panel passed today, have on average received more money from the industries fighting against the measure's public health plan component than those who voted "yes."

July 14, 2009 | Republicans–shocker–are itching to ditch him. So is a member of his own Democratic party. But U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, (D-Conn.), will nonetheless report that he's raised $1.2 million during the year's second quarter, various news outlets are reporting.

July 9, 2009 | Over the past three weeks, Capital Eye has contacted members of five Capitol Hill committees responsible for drafting health care reform legislation this summer. Here are their responses (and non-responses) and the money they're collecting from various industries.

July 9, 2009 | Interest groups have filled lawmakers' campaign coffers with cash, and spent millions on lobbyists to promote their positions. So it's not entirely surprising that some lawmakers can't make up their minds on health care reform. Here are a handful of examples of members of the Senate, who have tried to position themselves on multiple sides of the health care debate.

July 9, 2009 | As members of Congress assess the proper dose of reform for the nation's health care system, many of them have likewise invested hundreds of thousands of dollars of their personal funds into the very companies whose financial fortunes depend on what measures become law.

July 9, 2009 | Despite raising millions of dollars from the insurance and financial services industry during their careers, Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) rank among the Senate's most vocal champions of the public health insurance option.

July 7, 2009 | Former heart surgeon Rep. Charles Boustany (R-La.) has raised more than $971,000 from health professionals since 2003 -- his No. 1 industry backer. He is also a member of the House Republican Health Care Reform Working Group and a vocal advocate for private market reforms.

July 6, 2009 | Washington's revolving door may fall off its hinges as lawmakers continue debating health care reform. Citing data from the Center for Responsive Politics, the Washington Post reported this morning that insurers, pharmaceutical companies, medical associations and hospitals have hired more than 350 former government staff members and retired members of Congress as part of a $1.4 million-a-day lobbying campaign.

July 2, 2009 | As chief executive of America's Health Insurance Plans, Karen Ignagni has emerged as a central figure in the debate over health care reform. And like many other registered lobbyists, Ignagni has extended her influence and connections by opening her wallet to political candidates.

July 1, 2009 | President Obama's fifth consecutive week of naming new ambassadors brought with it five people with long histories of donating campaign cash, including two donors who also bundled more than half a million dollars each for the president's campaign war chest.

June 24, 2009 | A former doctor, Rep. Tom Price's top contributors reads like a roster of America's medical groups. Out of the Georgia Republican's 20 all-time leading donors, only five aren't related to the medical field. Follow along as Capital Eye profiles some of the lawmakers who were health professionals in their past lives.

June 17, 2009 | For some individuals, how Congress aims to reform America's health care system is literally a matter of life and death. For some industries, it could mean the difference between weathering the economic storm or shuttering their businesses. Over the next month, Capital Eye will be following the money as the various special interest groups continue to play politics in response to Congress's health reform proposals. Follow the month-long series here.

May 28, 2009 | U.S. presidents have long rewarded big campaign donors, fundraisers and other loyalists with ambassadorships, and Democratic President Barack Obama seems to be no exception. The list of individuals he has announced he will be nominating to ambassadorships around the globe include several big contributors and bundlers.

April 2, 2009 | OpenSecrets.org now tracks the number of filers that reported lobbying on a particular piece of legislation, back to 2005, providing information about the specific clients that paid for the work and the lawmakers sponsoring the bills. You can now search OpenSecrets.org's Lobbying Database by a bill's name, description or number. See some of our initial findings here.

March 26, 2009 | Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) became chair of the House Education & Labor Committee in 2007, after serving as ranking member for six years before Democrats won control of the House. Whether it's because he has played a prominent role on the committee for years or because he has dedicated himself to workers' issues, unions are unabashed supporters of the congressman.

March 25, 2009 | Even as he deals with his own health challenges, as chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has committed himself to focusing on improving the quality and accessibility of American health care. Kennedy's interest in the country's health care issues has brought him money from various health-related industries.

March 19, 2009 | The colleges and universities competing in this year's NCAA men's basketball tournament aren't just powerhouses on the court. Some of them are influential in Washington, too, paying lobbyists large sums in pursuit of research dollars and federal student aid. Check out CRP's bracket, based on how March Madness would turn out if these schools' 2008 lobbying spending determined the tournament's outcome.

March 12, 2009 | This week we took yet another look at the contributions from embattled lobbying firm PMA Group, this time analyzing all donations from the firm and its clients back in time to all members of the 111th Congress, plus President Obama. Since 1998, the firm and its clients have given $40.3 million total to the candidate committees and leadership PACs of 514 lawmakers--nearly every member of the current Congress.

March 2, 2009 | The FBI hasn't been the only group continuing to investigate lobbying firm PMA Group, which specializes in securing federal earmarks for its clients. At the Center for Responsive Politics, we've expanded our original analysis of contributions from the lobbying firm to lawmakers, specifically those on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, to include contributions from PMA's clients, as well.

February 24, 2009 | When President Obama addresses the nation tonight in a State of the Union fashion, it won't just be Congress and members of the public tuning in. Special interests, too, will be paying close attention to what the president has to say about upcoming plans that could affect them. Capital Eye takes a look at the key issues Obama is likely to discuss--and the industries, sectors and groups that will be listening closely to his message.

October 2, 2008 | Like reading tea leaves, one way to predict how a congressional race is going to go is by looking at the disparity in fundraising between the candidates. So far this election cycle, 280 House and Senate incumbents on November's ballot have collected at least 10 times more than the opponent they face in the general election. In this installment of Races to Watch, Capital Eye looks into why some of these incumbents have been such successful fundraisers.

September 3, 2008 | Preparing for a general election in which he cannot collect private donations, John McCain vaulted in front of Barack Obama in fundraising from one of the biggest groups of donors in American politics: the senior set. A new analysis of the Republican nominee's summer fundraising by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has found McCain leading Obama among retired donors almost two to one in June and July, $8.1 million to $4.5 million.

August 26, 2008 | For every star-studded concert and poker tournament when the sun goes down over the Rockies, there are dozens of mundane corporate events during the day that resemble what goes on in Washington nearly every other day of the year. Such was the scene Tuesday at a daytime event sponsored by the Financial Services Roundtable, an influential alliance of the nation's biggest banks, insurers, mortgage lenders, investment advisors, credit card companies.

August 26, 2008 | While school was out, college professors and other educators were putting money into Barack Obama's presidential campaign, according to a new analysis of the Democratic nominee's summer fundraising. Educators contributed at least $2.3 million to his campaign in June and July, surpassed only by lawyers, who make up Obama's top-giving industry since the campaign's start, and retirees.

August 13, 2008 | Two weeks before the Democratic Party convenes in Colorado to officially nominate their candidate for president, a House election in the state yesterday set the record as the most expensive primary in the country. And the candidate who spent the most money -- most of it his own -- was victorious.

August 5, 2008 | On the last day permitted by law, the Clerk of the House of Representatives on Friday posted an electronic database of privately sponsored congressional travel. The improvement enables citizens to find out which groups have flown representatives across the country or the world--without having to come to Washington to peruse tattered binders in an office basement. Since 2006, with support from the Sunlight Foundation, the Center for Responsive Politics has taken it upon itself to bring the information to the public, a time- and resource-intensive task.

July 10, 2008 | If there's one dreaded stop on every traveler's roadmap these days, it's the gas station. With the cost of fuel topping $4 a gallon this summer for the first time ever, there are a lot of questions, but not many clear-cut answers. Capital Eye's reporters dropped in on service stations in the D.C. area to find out where consumers are placing the blame.

July 1, 2008 | It appears that being the candidate of change doesn't necessarily mean appealing to a new set of donors. New York Times columnist David Brooks used extensive data from the Center for Responsive Politics today to argue that Barack Obama's fundraising base looks a whole lot like those of Democrats past and present.

June 18, 2008 | The pace of congressional travel has slowed since new ethics rules went into effect last year, but CRP's update of its travel database shows that some lawmakers are still collecting frequent flier miles on someone else's dime.

June 11, 2008 | Most women will say that being a homemaker is a rewarding job, even though they don't earn any money from it. Campaign finance reports, however, make the important work look surprisingly lucrative.

June 3, 2008 | For an organization that doesn't make campaign contributions, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is remarkably influential in U.S. politics, which explains why the presidential candidates are all speaking this week to 7,000 pro-Israel activists at the organization's annual meeting in Washington.

May 27, 2008 | Climatologists aren't the only source of data on global warming. It turns out that disclosure reports filed with Congress show that lobbying on climate change has been heating up sharply in recent years.

May 9, 2008 | The Washington Post's story this morning about a land deal supported by John McCain that benefits his donors, bundlers and staffers illustrates how furiously Washington's revolving door spins. It's enough to make even a senator dizzy.

April 10, 2008 | Corporations, industries, labor unions, governments and other interests spent a record $2.79 billion in 2007 to lobby for favorable policies in Washington, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics has calculated.

April 10, 2008 | Consumer advocate and three-time presidential hopeful Ralph Nader enjoys the distinction of being the first independent presidential candidate profiled on OpenSecrets.org this election, because he's one of the few independents with any money to analyze.

November 15, 2007 | Top industries and interest groups have increased their giving over 2004 by 46 percent, Center finds. As money shifts to Democrats, giving from Republican strongholds is mostly flat.

November 1, 2007 | Exclusive analysis finds lawyers are still the biggest givers to candidates for the White House, but retired contributors have edged out Wall Street. A year before '08 election, Democrats have the edge in nearly every major industry.

April 7, 2007 | New leadership in the 110th Congress means newfound influence for interests friendly to Democrats By Miranda Blue and Lindsay Renick Mayer January 04, 2007 | With the changing of the guard on Capitol Hill comes a shift in lobbying efforts. In December, the Republican-led 109th Congress closed with a late-night flurry of bills to appease…

April 5, 2007 | Ethics concerns and new legislation have put the brakes on congressional travel in 2007. By Lindsay Renick Mayer April 05, 2007 | (This story has been corrected to reflect Rep. Steven Leslie Kagen’s trip to Miami this year.) As two ethics bills restricting congressional travel fly through the House and Senate, lawmakers are largely grounding…

January 22, 2007 | Global warming, the Iraq war and balancing the budget are likely to be among the issues the president addresses. By Lindsay Renick Mayer January 22, 2007 | When President Bush takes the podium on Tuesday night to deliver his annual address, he will do so before a nation that is far less supportive of his…

January 3, 2007 | WASHINGTON – The longtime research director of the Center for Responsive Politics, Sheila Krumholz, has been promoted to Executive Director of the nonpartisan watchdog group, the Center’s board of directors has announced. And to develop new services to further the Center’s educational mission, diversify financial support for the organization and form new strategic partnerships, the…

November 3, 2006 | House and Senate candidates who didn’t even make it to Election Day spent almost $100 million raised from contributors and their own pockets. By Lindsay Renick Mayer and Miranda Blue November 03, 2006 | Every two years, candidates running for Congress plead with friends, family and people they’ve never met to dig deep into their…

April 27, 2006 | The masses huddled on immigration issue include some surprising interests By Courtney Mabeus April 27, 2006 | Just as the United States is a tapestry woven of people from different countries and backgrounds, the various groups that lobby on the immigration issue form a diverse and often surprising patchwork. Lobbyists for ballet dancers, mushroom growers,…

April 13, 2006 | Recent scrutiny of companies that prepare individuals’ tax returns can’t compare to oversight of corporate accountants. The tax-prep industry’s political influence can’t compare either. By Courtney Mabeus April 13, 2006 | It is said that there are two certainties in life: death and taxes. Days before millions of Americans scurry through W2’s, 1099’s and receipts…

March 8, 2006 | War veterans try to topple congressional incumbents and their bigger war chests By Courtney Mabeus March 08, 2006 | To raise money for his congressional campaign in Minnesota, Tim Walz first had to learn how to sell himself. It’s a skill he didn’t have much need for in 24 years as a national guardsman, but,…

January 12, 2006 | UPDATE, Feb. 2: In an upset for acting Majority Leader Roy Blunt, House Republicans elected Ohio Rep. John Boehner 122-109 in a second-ballot vote to replace former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). Rep. John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) dropped out after receiving 40 votes in the first ballot. By Center for Responsive Politics January 12, 2006 |…

January 9, 2006 | Former journalist Massie Ritsch joins non-partisan group studying money in politics ____________________ A former reporter for the Los Angeles Times, Massie Ritsch, has joined the Center for Responsive Politics as the non-partisan organization’s Communications Director. Through its award-winning, publicly accessible website, www.OpenSecrets.org, CRP examines the influence of money on elections and public policy, especially in…

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